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Sunday, July 4, 2010

Pain au Levain- test one

The same friend of a friend that gave me the kombucha baby also gave me some sourdough starter. I have not made much bread, except for the odd pizza crust, and I did try to make bagels (which were a success:).

Yesterday I fed the starter some flour and water and left it on the counter overnight, when I woke up in the morning it was HUGE! A big bowl of bubbly dough.

I read the recipe that my friend gave me, but I didn't have any of the fancy flours, so I just used my unbleached white flour and went from there. I mixed up the flour and starter together with water, kneaded it for 10 minutes and set it in a bowl on the counter with a tea towel over top. At first I thought I didn't do it right, because an hour past and it had not risen. Then I went out for a few hours and came back and it was BIG, I was happy :)
Punched it down,molded it and floured the top, wrapped it in a tea towel. And let it do its thing, overnight.

When I woke up this morning, I peeked at it...it looked ready to be cooked! I heated the oven up, sprayed the oven with a water mist and baked it for 20 minutes.

When I was in school we would make baguettes, and my teacher use to say "tap it, if it sounds hollow it is ready". It sounded hollow, but next time I think I will lower the oven heat and bake it for a little longer.